The Bodhisattwa Trio (Kolkata, India) has just released their latest album, Heart of Darkness. The title begins with Sections, a haunting, ethereal sound that links together a sound that feels more at home in a horror or dystopian film score. The track immediately draws listeners’ attention in, making the sudden change in sound that is presented during the opening seconds of Transcendence all the more shocking. The trio’s tautness is shown nicely here, with a blend of funk, jazz fusion, and a bit of the gonzo that was presented in Frank Zappa’s sixties and seventies albums. The Fugitive is one of our favorite tracks on Heart of Darkness as it has The Bodhisattwa Trio take up the standards of 1970s funk and all of the pizzazz and pomp of a Blaxploitation film.
Tones Down is a perfect middle-album track as it allows listeners a few moments to catch their breadth. While the track itself seems light and wispy, I feel that there is considerable depth to be had. The Bodhisattwa Trio is able to shift and change the composition for well over twelve minutes. In fact, the presence of Cronos the Revisit at 11-plus minutes immediately following Tones Down is a bold move. The sheer skill of the Trio is nowhere expressed as well as it is during this one-two punch. Where the rest of Heart of Darkness is marked by five to eight-minute tracks, the extra time that the Trio is given for these composition makes them into a peak of Heart of Darkness. The Bodhisattwa Trio crafts a unique take on jazz, new age, funk, and rock genres with their latest album, a must-have for anyone that is a fan of cutting-edge music.
Top Tracks: Transcendence, The Fugitive
Rating: 8.0/10
The Bodhisattwa Trio – Heart of Darkness / 2016 Amuze Records / 8 Tracks / / https://www.facebook.com/thebodhitrio/ / https://soundcloud.com/the-bodhisattwa-trio